Introduction

The Dragonbound & Dragon Caller (DBDC) Rare Egg Machine returns to North America on Monday, November 19 and comes with numerous buffs, new cards, and Monster Exchange options.

As a whole, the DBDC REM is arguably the highest value collab/seasonal machine in the game despite the 10-stone cost due to the incredible value at the bottom rarity. This is important as nearly every roll will have value to a given player assuming it is their first/second time acquiring that card.

Generally speaking, the DBDC cards are highly specialized and are able to fulfill their respective role incredibly well. While this means one may not be using them all the time, they are sometimes vital to own for specific content/mechanics as it is hard to replace them otherwise.

For the most part, I would encourage all players to roll in this event assuming they do not own many/most of the bottom rarity cards as they are unique and can help one progress through new content. With that being said, for players who have rolled in the past 2 events, the chances of rolling something new are quite low and may be better skipping as a whole.

This article will summarize each card’s strengths and weaknesses to give you a better understanding of what is in store within this event.

Video commentary

—video coming soon—

Overview

Dragonbound & Dragon Caller REM
7 Star base
6 Star base
5 Star base

DBDC REM  Rankings – November 17, 2018
S
A
B
C
D

All 7-star cards are available for trade within the Monster Exchange.

Order within each tier is random and not reflective of ranking.

Regardless of card’s ranking, you should almost always keep it if it is your very first time acquiring them.

Limit Breaking

Limit Breaking is the process of leveling a card beyond level 99. This will unlock more weighted stats along with the potential to receive Super Awakenings. These additional awakenings can add significant power but only function in solo mode.

Any card that can qualify for Limit Breaking will having their level displayed in blue and feeding a Super Snow Globe will push them beyond the level 99 cap.

You can read more about Super Awakenings HERE.

Monster Exchange

The Monster Exchange System has mostly eliminated the need to roll in most events as players can simply trade in for a card of their choice (think of Yusuke  in the YYH Collab). With that being said, the DBDC event does have a Monster Exchange option, but will be far too costly for the average player.

This is because all of the 7-star cards will require 5 trade fodder (instead of 4) and each sacrificed card has to be either a 7-star GFE or a rare seasonal/collab card. Thus, it would technically cost 20 6-star GFE to acquire one DBDC card assuming the player utilized the Monster Exchange system in a previous event.

7 Star base

All 7-star base cards can be acquired via the Monster Exchange System with each trade costing five 7-star GFE or top rarity seasonal/collab cards.

Ideal – S

Active: Delay 2 turns to all enemies. Change all orbs to Fire, Water & Wood & Light & Dark & Heart orbs (13 turn cooldown)

Leader Skill: All attribute cards ATK x2.5 when attacking with 3 of following orb types: Fire, Water, Wood, Light, Dark & Heart. ATK x3.5 for each additional orb type, up to ATK x14 for all 6 matches. Increases time limit of orb movement by 3 seconds

Awakenings:         
Super Awakenings:   

Ideal

Active: Delay 2 turns to all enemies. Change all orbs to Fire, Water & Wood & Light & Dark & Heart orbs (13 turn cooldown)

Leader Skill: ATK x3 at 2 combos. ATK x1.5 for each additional combo, up to ATK x16 at 10 combos. Increases time limit of orb movement by 3 seconds

Awakenings:         
Super Awakenings:   

Pros	Cons
Animated Ideal Puns Triple 7 Combo  Can use Dragon Killer  Latents Two distinct forms Light better sub/overall 1,503 RCV 1,292 weighted stats Dark better leader Guard Break  Team HP  Bind immune Limit Break+SA grants huge stats	Difficult to roll Expensive to trade for You want more than 1

Light Ideal is arguably one of the best subs in the game due to her incredible damage output, team HP , ability to use Dragon Killer Latents , bind immunity, 1,503 RCV, useful active, and her light typing. All of these factors make it hard to justify making Dark Ideal as you lose out on the 7 Combos  for what amounts to a reasonably strong (not stellar) leader. With that being said, if you have no Ideal teams to use Light Ideal or have lackluster leaders overall, it may be worthwhile to make Dark Ideal in the mean time. This is because the evolution is reversible so you can always convert back into Light if you gain a better leader in the future.

Light Ideal can fit well on the majority of top tier teams and being able to boost total team HP by 10% (15% in solo with Super Awakening) is quite meaningful while also having incredible weighted stats. She naturally functions best on Combo teams as you can easily tap into her personal 8x damage (from three 7c awakenings) and enables her to potentially spike high enough to pierce through high DEF spawns. Furthermore, the Dark sub attribute can help trigger rainbow clause Leader Skills or awakenings.

If planning on using Dark Ideal as a leader, her main strength will be the relatively forgiving activation clause, Guard Break , and augmented stats via Team HP  and RCV . While these awakenings do not provide enough stats to compete against HP/RCV multipliers, they do help patch up her modest fragility. Unfortunately, Dark Ideal will not be heavily used overall due to the fact that her leader skill is not as powerful compared to other options and Light Ideal being such an incredible sub. As such, Dark Ideal may act as a transitional leader for newer accounts that is eventually converted over to her Light form when stronger options are available.

Overall, Ideal is an incredible card to own and her main drawback is her rarity and difficulty while also being essentially out of range for most players in the Monster Exchange system.

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Lajoa – A

Active: Change all orbs to Dark & Heart orbs. Recover 40% of max HP. Bind recovery for 4 turns (13 turn CD)

Leader Skill: Dragon & Devil type cards HP x2, ATK x5. ATK x1.5 when simultaneously clearing 5 connected Dark orbs. ATK x0.5 for each additional orb, up to ATK x2 at 6 connected orb

Awakenings:         
Super Awakenings:   

Lajoa

Active: Change all orbs to Dark & Heart orbs. Recover 40% of max HP. Bind recovery for 4 turns (13 turn CD)

Leader Skill: ATK x4 when simultaneously clearing 4 connected Dark orbs. ATK x1 for each additional orb, up to ATK x30 at 30 connected orb. All attribute cards 50% all damage reduction when HP is full

Awakenings:         
Super Awakenings:   

Pros	Cons
Two distinct evolutions Can gain either VDP  or FUA  VDP Super Awakening Has leadership potential 4x HP Able to heal via Eir  High potential damage Can abuse Kuroyuri  system Powerful board change active Kind of like a Dark Yog	Low base RCV Healing is possible, just needs planning Slow play style Rows are orb hungry No Time Extend

Lajoa had less merit upon his initial release due to a lack of Super Awakenings along with a difficult time functioning as a traditional row leader.

Thankfully, he has gained newfound merit as high HP teams can abuse Enhanced Heal Orb  awakenings along with a Kuroyuri  system. This means his 4x HP can be feasibly restored and will play like Mega Ryune  and Sylvie . All these teams are not exceptionally fast, but they are able to clear end game content as they are incredibly durable when healing is no longer an issue.

Lajoa’s active skill is akin to Yog  in that he produces a heart + dark (instead of Light) board along with 40% heal and 4 turn bind clear. This is incredible value as it combines three valuable elements and what is arguably the strongest board changer possible (1 colour + hearts).

With the introduction of Dark Metatron , it is possible to use Lajoa as an inherit for a final burst board but the healing can be problematic. For the most part, Dark Metatron wants to be below 80% in order to tap into her full multiplier. On the other hand, if one is repeatedly using HP-cutting actives, she may drop quite low and being able to heal 40% on demand may be situationally useful.

While the Dark/Fire form has merits as a leader, his Dark/Dark form has an impractical Leader Skill is impractical to use in traditional content. He gains 1x ATK for each connected Dark orb which does cap at 30x for a full board of 30. This can be achieved via Revo Satan, but at that point, is that amount of damage truly needed considering it require 20 Skill Boosts to use.

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 Suou – S (New)

Active: Removes lock status on orbs. Change all orbs to Fire, Water & Heart orbs. +1 combo count for 1 turn (11 turn CD)

Leader Skill: Fire & Water attribute cards HP x1.5, ATK x1.5, RCV x1.5. All attribute cards ATK x6, 25% all damage reduction when attacking with Water and Fire combos at the same time

Awakenings:     
Super Awakenings: –

Suou

Active: Removes lock status on orbs. Change all orbs to Fire, Water & Heart orbs. +1 combo count for 1 turn (11 turn CD)

Leader Skill: Fire & Water attribute cards ATK x3.5, 35% all damage reduction when HP is greater than 50%. All attribute cards ATK x2 when reaching Fire & Water combos. All attribute cards ATK x2 when reaching 6 combos or above.

Awakenings:        
Super Awakenings: –

Pros	Cons
Two distinct evolutions Four 7 Combos  3 VDP  + 3 SB  Strong leadership potential Useful active skill Balance typing in VDP form Arguably the best VDP card	4 7 Combo form has no other awakenings Sacrificing everything for damage No SBR  in both forms VDP form LS is like a weaker Edward

Suou is one of three new 7-star cards in the Dragonbound & Dragon Caller Rare Egg Machine and comes with an interesting kit. At first glance, the four 7 Combo  awakenings are amazing, but then the realization that there are no other awakenings sinks in. Sure having 16x personal damage against any spawn is amazing, but it is just more damage with no utility whatsoever. Having blisteringly high damage is somewhat gated by absorption and void mechanics so having a damage stick is not the best thing overall.

With this in mind, it is almost always better to convert your Suou to their VDP form. This is because they come with 3 Skill Boosts  and 3 VDP  along with being bind immune. This can help them function as a proficient leader who is quite similar to the buffed Edward . Unfortunately, Edward tends to be superior due to the fact that he does not have any colour restriction and has 7 Combos which grants passive damage at all times. While this may seem like a drawback, Suou is still a potent leader as Edward is considered one of the best at the moment.

In addition to their leadership potential, Suou’s VDP form is arguably the best VDP card in the game. This is because they enjoy a personal 15.6x ATK when forming a Box along with being Balance typing to accept any kind of Killer latent. Furthermore, their damage is not tied to combos so one only needs to form the box to hit their maximum personal damage.

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 Roche – S (New)

Active: Ignores enemy attribute damage absorb effects for 1 turn ( does not include combo shield, damage absorb shield, and damage void ). Change Fire & Jammer orbs to Wood orbs. Change Water, Poison & Mortal Poison orbs to Dark orbs (11 turn CD)

Leader Skill: Attacker type cards ATK x4. Increases time limit of orb movement by 3 seconds. All attribute cards ATK x2.5, 25% all damage reduction when reaching 6 combos.

Awakenings:       
Super Awakenings: –

Roche

Active: Ignores enemy attribute damage absorb effects for 1 turn ( does not include combo shield, damage absorb shield, and damage void ). Change Fire & Jammer orbs to Wood orbs. Change Water, Poison & Mortal Poison orbs to Dark orbs (11 turn CD)

Leader Skill: Wood & Dark attribute cards ATK x4. Increases time limit of orb movement by 2 seconds. All attribute cards ATK x4, 50% all damage reduction when reaching 8 combos

Awakenings:        
Super Awakenings: –

Pros	Cons
Dark form is superior Powerful Leader Skill Free movement time 50% Damage Reduction with 1 Leader 7×6 pairing results in easy activation Double orb changer that removes hazards	Colour absorb is niche Personal damage is tied to being below 50% HP 8 Combos is not always doable on 6×5 Can lose damage reduction shield No SBR  TPA form is redundant

Roche is a creepy looking girl who has the potential to be a powerful leader in her Dark form. This is because she is able to achieve 16x ATK, 50% Damage Reduction, and +2 seconds of orb movement time when hitting 8 or more combos. This is quite amazing and in theory, dual Roche are able to form a highly durable team (4x effective HP with 75% reduction); however, hitting 8 combos on a 6×5 board is not always doable.

Being unable to hit 8 combos leaves her vulnerable to damage and she will only be able to deal 16x ATK with dual leaders. Thus, it may often be ideal to pair with a Diablos  to capitalize on the bigger board and his respectable multipliers along with solving any SBR  issues.

On a 7×6 board, it should be quite easy to hit 8 or more combos to tap into 136x ATK along with a 62.5% damage reduction shield. This will enable your team to naturally tank most attacks without the need of using an additional active. Unfortunately, the main drawback of Roche is her own personal 8x damage is tied to being under 50% HP which may be difficult to achieve all the time.

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 Valeria  – S (New)

Active: All attribute cards RCV x2 for 3 turns. Reshuffle all orbs. (8 turn CD)

Leader Skill: Fire & Light attribute cards ATK x5. Increases time limit of orb movement by 2 seconds. All attribute cards ATK x3, 25% all damage reduction when attacking with 4 of Fire, Water, Wood, Light & Dark orb types at the same time

Awakenings:       
Super Awakenings:  –

Valeria

Active: All attribute cards RCV x2 for 3 turns. Reshuffle all orbs. (8 turn CD)

Leader Skill: All attribute cards ATK x7 when attacking with 4 of following orb types: Fire, Water, Wood, Light & Dark. ATK x3, RCV x3 when reaching 7 combos.

Awakenings:        
Super Awakenings:  –

Pros	Cons
6 Skill Boosts  Highest in the game Potent leader in F/L form 21x ATK Rainbow Potentially high HP via  3x RCV	Skill Boost form is for farming Less merit for many players Mostly a luxury Rainbow leaders can have activation issues Both forms lack any damage awakenings Active skill has less merit as a leader

Valeria is the final new 7-star card in the Dragonbound & Dragon Caller REM and also features two unique split evolutions. Her first form features an amazing 6 Skill Boosts  which is invaluable for luxury farming teams as they are better able to modify their compositions; however, having 6 Skill Boosts is only 1 better compared to the farmable Whaledor . With this in mind, base Valeria is a highly luxurious card that may not be fully taken advantage of by the average player. As such, she may have more merit in her evolved form for her potent rainbow Leader Skill.

Evolved Valeria features a massive 21x ATK / 3x RCV which matching 4/5 colours and 7 or more combos. Both of these are reasonably doable on a given board and while there is no HP multiplier, the 4 Team HP  (8 with dual leaders) awakenings add significant bulk and can enable them to survive reasonably large amounts of punishment. Furthermore, since the HP is tied to awakenings, it can be preserved during Leader swaps but also means Valeria teams become significantly more vulnerable during Awoken Skill Binds.

Unfortunately, Valeria does not have any personal damage awakenings which means one will have to rely on the rest of the team to deal meaningful amount of damage.

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6 star base

Weld – B

Active: Delay 1 turn to all enemies. Change all orbs to Fire, Water & Heart orbs (11 turn CD)

Leader Skill: Can no longer clear 3 connected orbs. All attribute cards ATK x3, RCV x3. All attribute cards ATK x3.5, 25% all damage reduction when attacking with Water and Fire combos at the same time

Awakenings:       
 Weapon Assist Awakenings:    

Pros	Cons
Powerful active skill Delay + board change Assist evolution grants TPA  & Fire Resist  Active skill produces wonderful BJ  boards	Lackluster base form Really for Weapon Assist

Weld’s main purpose is to be converted into his Weapon Assist form as he is able to transfer over a TPA  and Fire Resist  awakenings. The TPA component can help cards that already have a few TPAs achieve higher levels of damage while the Fire Resist awakening has amazing value for cheese teams.

Kiri  is another card in the DBDC event and relies on changing the enemy’s attribute to Fire and heavily reducing their damage through her Leader Skill. As such, a Weld inherit can ease some team building options along with providing a valuable board changer and potentially lifesaving delay.

The last time DBDC came to North America, Weld’s active skill lacked a truly viable home as there were no leaders who could take advantage of the colours produced. Thankfully, we have been blessed with Beach Barbara & Julie (BJ)  who requires Water and Fire to activate. Furthermore, the heart orbs generated can help solve healing issues or FUA  needs. In addition, the extra TPA can enable I&I  to hit amazing levels of damage.

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Nees – B

Active: Recover 50% of max HP. Awoken Bind recovery for 5 turns. Change Fire orbs to Dark orbs, Water orbs to Wood orbs (10  turn CD)

Leader Skill: All attribute cards ATK x4, 25% all damage reduction when attacking with Dark and Wood combos at the same time. ATK x2 for clearing each Wood, Light or Dark orbs in a cross formation.

Awakenings:    
Super Awakenings:   

Pros	Cons
So Much HP 1,404 weighted stats Gains 7 Combo  or Team HP  via SA Awoken bind clear options	4 awakenings No SA in coop Low RCV

Nees is an older card from the Dragonbound & Dragon Caller REM and still has merit in today’s meta due to her insane amount of HP along with beneficial active skill.

Sticking Nees onto a team will grant an amazing amount of health, but her massive weighted stats are offset by the fact that she only has 4 awakenings. Granted they are valuable ones, it is sometimes hard to compete against other options. Thankfully, her Super Awakenings enables her to gain a second 7 Combo  awakening which propels her personal damage to 4x or an additional Team HP . This is significant and helps justify her sub spot despite having 5 awakenings.

While Nees’s active may look unusual at first, it is actually quite powerful in Alt. Arena where awoken binds are quite common. Thus, one may not actually need to run Odin Dragon  provided your leaders are bind immune.

Sadly, Nees will struggle to keep abreast with other high damaging options in coop mode where her Super Awakenings are disabled. However, her massive HP is not as needed in coop mode so there is some consolation there. This is because in coop (2P) you and your partner share the HP of leaders and all subs which amounts to 10 cards. As a result, most teams tend to have sufficient HP even without an HP multiplier to function well.

With all the being said, Nees can still be used as a fantastic inherit as she will transfer over a hefty amount of HP along with powerful active skill. Being able to instantly heal 50% HP can be invaluable for high HP teams and can help offset a low HP/heavily injured Dark Metatron .

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Tardis – S

Active: Increases time limit of orb movement by 1 second for 1 turn (1 turn CD)

Leader Skill: Wood attribute cards ATK x4. Water attribute cards HP x2. All attribute cards ATK x2.5 on the turn a skill is used. (Multiple skills will not stack)

Awakenings:       
Super Awakenings:   

Pros	Cons
Naturally high HP 1 turn base CD Trivializes Gunma  Boosts team RCV Gains Void Damage Penetration  Reasonable Leader Skill Doctor Who references Grants +1s orb movement time	No Skill Boost  Few Killer latent options Not a pretty girl Halloween Myne  is an option

Tardis is still one of the best options for teams that rely on active skill clauses and his only main competition is Halloween Myne . Halloween Myne is a a farmable option who also shares a 1 turn cooldown but the main downside is that she could only be farmed during the Halloween event along with requiring 30 Skill Ups. So while she is a viable option, Tardis is easier to invest in along with having significantly better weighted stats.

In addition, Tardis has a wonderful effect through his active skill as being able to grant 1 additional second of orb movement time can help high combo teams but is also able to overwrite movement time debuffs.

Tardis boasts 6,021 HP (before Limit Breaking) enables him to add meaningful bulk to various teams, especially those without an HP multiplier (eg. Anubis). Granted his base RCV is 91, Tardis provides +30% Team RCV through his three awakenings . Thus, his lower healing potential is easily offset as no single sub tends to provide 30% of your team’s total RCV. Furthermore, with his Void Damage Penetration  Super Awakening, Tardis can help provide additional utility for your team.

Stepping beyond his amazing sub potential, Tardis acts as a respectable leader as dual Tardis form a 100x ATK team when an active skill is triggered. This works wonderfully well due to his natural 1 turn base cooldown along with his TPA  awakenings. Granted TPA has lower merit in most traditional teams, one would not be using Tardis for those kinds of content and instead can easily sweep through easier floors with a single combo. Furthermore, one can use Tardis in lieu of Liu Bei  or Pixel Brachy  for general farming purposes.

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Li – S

Active: Switch places with leader card. Use again to switch back. Dragon type cards ATK x3 for 1 turn (22 turn CD)

Leader Skill:  Fire, Water, Wood, Light & Dark attribute cards ATK x10 when HP is less than 20%. While your HP is 50% or above, a single hit that normally kills you will instead leave you with 1 HP. For the consecutive hits, this skill will only affect the first hit

Awakenings:       
Super Awakenings:   

Pros	Cons
Leader Swap active Enables 7×6 or Ganesha  / Saline  7×6 makes most leaders better Cuter than Macha  Easier to roll than Macha	Macha has a better secondary effect Super Awakenings are somewhat wasted Mostly used as an inherit 22 turn cooldown Macha is 21 turns Mostly a luxury leader swap for Rank farming

Li is one of two cards in NA that have an inheritable Leader Swap active skill. It is important to differentiate the fact that Li is inheritable as it enables you to actually use two leaders you want to play with as opposed to one that has a less ideal Leader Skill.

With this in mind, Li has two distinct uses: creating 7×6 boards or abusing Ganesha  and Saline’s  bonus rank EXP multiplier.

For 7×6 usage, Li will enable players to enter a dungeon with a 7×6 leader and then swap into their desired leader. For example, you can use Diaochan  as your leader (creates 7×6 board) while paired with an Anubis  friend. However, you will be also bringing your Anubis with Li inherited as a sub. After stalling for a period of time, you will be able to use the Li inherit to swap your sub Anubis into the leader slot and this results in dual Anubis on 7×6.

This dramatically improves Anubis’s consistency but forming a 7×6 board is generally best for colour cross leaders. This is because colour cross leaders tend to run into both spacing issues along with a lack of desired orbs on a regular 6×5 board. However, with the additional 12 orbs from 7×6, players will be able to more consistently proc more colour crosses along with a higher combo count. Furthermore, one can achieve more than 3 colour crosses and this results in borderline ridiculous damage.

At this point in time, we do not have any leader that truly needs a 7×6 board for Li/Matcha swapping and will mostly be used by players who wish to maximize their Rank farming through Ganesha and Saline swaps.

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 Enra – A

Active: Change Water & Dark orbs to Fire orbs. Change Jammer, Poison & Mortal Poison orbs to Heart orbs (9 turn CD)

Leader Skill: All attribute cards ATK x6 when HP is greater than 80%. ATK x2, RCV x2 when HP is less than 80%. All attribute cards ATK x2, 25% all damage reduction when attacking with Fire and Fire combos at the same time

Awakenings:       
Super Awakenings:   

Pros	Cons
Bind Immune Three 7c  awakenings Naturally occurs, not via SA Modest leadership potential Can remove hazard orbs High weighted stats	Super Awakenings are mediocre Active overflows board with fire Harder to 7 combo Longer cooldown Leader Skill has HP clause with no self heal A weaker Yog  More triple 7c cards now exist

Enra used to be one of the few triple 7 Combo  awakenings cards available which means she has a personal 8x damage when hitting 7 or more combos. This is valuable on any combo-based team as she helps ensure you deal lethal damage without active skills. Unfortunately or fortunately, more and more cards now exist with triple 7 Combo which means Enra has lost some of her unique edge.

This means one may not always be relying on Enra to clear content as other options do exist and she is not without faults. Most notably is her base active skill overflowing the board with Fire orbs which can prevent heavy comboing but at least she leaves heart orbs. Sadly, her 9 turn base cooldown may make it somewhat challenging to inherit something of value over top so be mindful of what kind of utility you want Enra to bring and whether or not it will be up in time. In addition to her awkward active skill, Enra has underwhelming Super Awakenings so she did not gain as much value compared to the other DBDC cards. Yes the Cloud Resist  has situational value, but it is quite a rare occurrence along with L  awakening potentially eating into your combo count.

As a leader, Enra functions like a Fire Yog  in that you need to match 2 sets of Fire combos while maintaining >80% HP. Unfortunately, Enra’s base active does not provide a self heal along with having a lower 144x ATK multiplier. Granted the damage can be somewhat offset by her offensive awakenings, it will most likely be less efficient overall.

Overall, Enra is still an amazingly powerful card to own as she provides incredible damage output but is now less unique as more and more cards gain a third 7 Combo awakening.

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Distel – B

Active: 75% damage reduction for 3 turns. Dragon & Devil type cards ATK x2 for 3 turns (20 turn CD)

Leader Skill: All attribute cards ATK x4, 25% all damage reduction when reaching 7 combos. ATK x3 when simultaneously clearing 5 connected Water orbs

Awakenings:       
Super Awakenings:   

Pros	Cons
Three SB  Double L  awakenings Powerful 2-part active 75% damage reudction 2x damage boost Small leadership potential	Base active has a long cooldown No SBR  Less ideal offensive awakenings

Distel is still a powerful inherit from the Dragonbound & Dragon Caller REM but his usage as a sub has not improved despite the Super Awakenings. This is because he carries L  awakenings which are underwhelming compared to 7 Combos . As such, players will most likely find themselves using Distel as an inherit in order to take advantage of his powerful active.

Ditel’s active provides 75% damage reduction that last three turns along with a small 2x ATK for Dragon and Devil types. This is an interesting twist on an Indra  style shield but the additional 5 turns on the cooldown may make it somewhat impractical to use all the time. However, the added damage boost may have merit if playing through challenging content where you need to both sweep a floor and tank an incoming preemptive. By being able to combine two valuable components into a single active can save space on your team along with being able to provide stats to Blue type cards. This is also important as most shields tend to be Light-based so having the ability to donate stats to cards that would have normally not received any is meaningful.

When used as a leader, Distel relies on matching 5 connected Water orbs but his damage reduction component that should always be achievable. The dual activation clause helps with damage control as well as surviving incoming damage/stalling. Unfortunately, the damage output is still on the low side along with better options already existing.

Distel’s Dragon typing and double L awakenings can enable him to function on Blue Sonia  teams, but 7 Combo  is a more desirable awakening overall.

In summary, Distel may have merit as a sub and leader, but his main appeal will be his powerful active skill when used as an inherit.

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Alpha – C (New)

Active: Change all orbs to Fire, Wood & Heart orbs. +1 combo count for 2 turns. (13 turn CD)

Leader Skill: Fire attribute cards ATK x4. Wood attribute cards HP x2. All attribute cards ATK x3 when reaching Fire & Wood combos.

Awakenings:       
Super Awakenings: –

Pros	Cons
5 L  awakenings Huge personal damage potential Strong Madoo  sub	Most teams do not use L’s Active has a long cooldown Verdandi  has same board but 9 turn CD +1 Combo count for 2 turns is not that amazing

Alpha is a new 6-star card in the Dragonbound & Dragon Caller Rare Egg Machine and comes with 5 L  awakenings. This grants him a personal (1.5^5) 7.6x ATK when forming an L. This essentially rivals triple 7 Combo  but the main problem is having 5 of the correct orb which may not always be possible along with potentially reducing total combo count.

This is somewhat frustrating as it may be challenging to truly capitalize on Alpha’s damage potential along with most teams preferring not to actually match L’s. Thankfully, evolved Madoo  is a viable leader as she relies on matching 5 connected orbs.

In regards to Alpha’s active, it shares the same board changer as Verdandi but also adds +1 combo count for 2 turns. This comes at the expense of 4 more turn cooldown which can be problematic as +1 combo is not that amazing. Generally speaking, when a player wants to boost their combo count, it is for VDP  solves as it can help ensure sufficient combos are met. As such, one usually uses a 2 turn buff as it would have to be a pretty horrible board to not hit 7 Combos. As such, Alpha’s +1 may or may not be the best choice along with the actual colours produced not helping most meta teams.

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Omega – S (New)

Active: ATK x1 + (0.3x for every Enhanced Combo (7c ) on the team) for 2 turns. (14 turn CD)

Leader Skill: Wood attribute cards ATK x4. Fire attribute cards RCV x2. All attribute cards ATK x3 when reaching 6 combos or above

Awakenings:       
Super Awakenings: –

Pros	Cons
Gemstone-style active Scales with 7 Combo  3 Coop Boost  Huge stats in coop Potential button base 1,310 RCV	Low base ATK Less potential as a Button base

Omega is an incredibly powerful new card in the Dragonbound & Dragon Caller Rare Egg Machine as he functions as either a stellar inherit or a powerful Coop card.

Omega’s active skill functions like a Gemstone Princess in that the bonus ATK multiplier scales with the number of awakenings on the team. In the case of Omega, it counts the number of 7 Combos which are usually plentiful on traditional teams. Thus, the calculation for the total multiplier is as follows:

1 + 0.3x
x = number of 7c 

Thus, having eight 7 Combos would results in 1 + (0.3*8) = 3.4x ATK. Depending on the type of team composition, this may be the best type of burst to use.

If Omega had stopped there, he would have still been a powerful card; however, GungHo was feeling extra generous as he also comes with three Coop Boost  awakenings. This grants him 3.375x stats in Coop which can make him function as a potent Button base or even a huge RCV stat stick.

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 Lieto – D (New)

Active: Awoken Bind recovery for 3 turns. Change Fire, Jammer, Poison & Mortal Poison orbs to Dark orbs. Removes lock status on orbs (8 turn CD)

Leader Skill: All attribute cards ATK x3, 35% all damage reduction when HP is greater than 80%. All attribute cards ATK x4 when attacking with 2 of following orb types: Light, Dark & Heart.

Awakenings:       
Super Awakenings: –

Pros	Cons
Active is unique No one else has that exact composition	Does not really do anything Enhanced Heal Orb  > Team RCV

Lieto is the final new 6-star card to be added into the DBDC event and they are a horrible disappointment. They do not really do much of anything and the four times Team RCV  is less powerful compared to Enhanced Heal Orb  along with their active being average at best.

Taking all of this into consideration makes it hard to justify using them as either a Leader or Sub.

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5 star base

Rathios – C

Active: 35% damage reduction for 3 turns. Change left-most column into Light orbs and the right-most column into Fire orbs (12 turn CD)

Leader Skill: Fixed  orb movement time at 4 seconds. ATK x2.5, RCV x2.5 to Dragon type cards. All attribute cards ATK x4 when reaching Light & Fire combos

Awakenings:      
 Weapon Assist Evolution:    

Pros	Cons
Weapon Assist evolution Shield & orb generation active Provides 2 Light rows  Helps provide some added damage Provides Time Extend	The need for Rathios is low Very few teams can utilize the Light rows provided

Rathios did not receive any Super Awakenings as her primary usage is as a Weapon Assist. As such, she gained an increase in her base stats to better buff another Light card; however, the actual need for Rathios is quite low.

On the other hand, the Time Extend  assist may have merits on teams that naturally have low movement time. This could strongly apply to Dark Metatron  who generally has poor movement time. Thus, inheriting Rathios onto someone like Izanagi  can be beneficial as one will be using Izanagi’s active repeatedly so there is no danger of Rathios charging up.

Like any Weapon Assist you plan on using for the awakenings, it is best to leave them unskilled to grant a larger window for using the ideal base active.

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No.6 – A

Active: No skyfall combos for 1 turn. Randomly spawn 7 Fire orbs from non Fire orbs (5 turn CD)

Leader Skill: Fire attribute cards ATK x5. Water attribute cards HP x1.5

Awakenings:      
Super Awakenings:   

Pros	Cons
Three God Killers  Double SBR  Super Awakenings grant L  or Tape  No Skyfall active Damage control Shorter cooldown	Only effective against Gods No Skill Boost  More God Killing cards exist Less unique

No.6 fulfills a niche role in Puzzle and Dragons: being able to obliterate any God spawn. This is all thanks to his three God Killers which provide him with a personal 27x ATK to God type spawns.

While one will not be using No.6 in all scenarios, it is well worth having him on hand as he can help trivialize various encounters.

Beyond his God Killing potential, No.6 has a reasonable active skill. Firstly, he is able to produce Fire orbs for himself, but the No skyfall clause aids in both damage control as well as lowering the cooldown.

Normally, the phrase damage control and No.6 do not go hand in hand, but with no Skyfalls, you can cap your output along with avoiding any chance of an unwanted colour from being matched. This is valuable against colour absorption spawns or against non-Gods. Furthermore, the No Skyfalls cuts off turns on the total cooldown so it is possible to use him more often in a single dungeon.

Unfortunately, No.6 lacks a Skill Boost  which may make it challenging for other actives to be ready in time along with more viable God Killing options existing. While having more options has not actually decreased No.6’s power, he is just less unique and may not always be the best choice for that specific scenario. With that being said, No.6 is one of the stronger colours as Fire Row farming is quite popular due to the farmable Machine Goemon .

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Kiri  – S

Active: Change all enemies attributes to Fire. (Ignores status shield) Reduces cooldown of other skills by 1 turn (16 turn CD)

Leader Skill: ATK x 3 when simultaneously clearing 6 connected Water orbs. ATK x1 for each additional orb, up to ATK x5 at 8 connected orb. 75% Fire damage reduction

Awakenings:      
Super Awakenings:   

Pros	Cons
Three Dragon Killers Able to form a powerful cheese team Active skill synergy Super Awakening grants an additional Fire Resist	Vulnerable to binds Active has little value outside of cheesing

Kiri is another Dragonbound & Dragon Caller card that comes with three of the same Killer awakenings. This results in a personal 27x ATK against Dragon spawns and helps ensure players are able to easily mow through difficult content. However, Kiri stands taller than No.6  and Shazel  due to her ability to form a Resistance Cheese team.

Cheese teams are those that rely on passive damage reduction from a specific element along with Gravities to slowly grind down encounters. While it may not be flashy nor speedy, Cheese teams can enable players with a less developed box to clear content that would normally be out of reach. Unfortunately, these types of teams heavily rely on an active skill that changes the attribute of the opposing monsters.

Historically speaking, the Puppeteers    were used for Cheese teams, but their 250,000 MP price tag made them inaccessible for the average player (will be changing with the upcoming Ranking Dungeons where top 20% can get them for free). Thankfully, Kiri comes with a built in elemental changer which essentially completes her team along with possibly saving an active skill slot. With that being said, Kiri’s elemental changer can be a pseudo damage boost for water based teams as you gain elemental advantage for 2x damage.

Despite the fact that Kiri is wonderful, her main drawback is a vulnerability to binds it can be overcome through the unbindable solo mode badge which is often the default choice when using Kiri as a leader.

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Kulia – C

Active: Increases time limit of orb movement by 1 second for 2 turns. Change left-most column into Water orbs and the right-most column into Dark orbs. (8 turn CD)

Leader Skill: All attribute cards ATK x4, 25% all damage reduction when attacking with Dark and Water combos at the same time. Increases time limit of orb movement by 3 seconds

Awakenings:      
Super Awakenings:   

Pros	Cons
Julia with a K Gains some relevancy via 7c  Super Awakening Guaranteed orb spawn & time buff active	Only viable in solo mode Better double 7c cards exist

Julia with a K has not aged will since the last inception of DBDC as numerous strong cards now exist.

The second 7 Combo  via Super Awakenings does give Kulia offensive capabilities, it is an expensive investment to develop Kulia since a Super Snow Globe and additional Pluses must be used. With that being said, if you have no other option and often play in solo mode, she may be worthwhile.

Looking at her active skill, the double column can be situationally helpful and it does ensure Blue Sonia  teams match two L’s. On the other hand, the time extend buff can be useful for countering time debuff mechanics.

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Shazel – A

Active: Change Dark, Jammer, Poison & Mortal Poison orbs to Wood orbs. Reduces cooldown of other skills by 1 turn (7 turn CD)

Leader Skill: Change the board to 7×6 size. All attribute cards ATK x3, RCV x3 when reaching Wood & Light combos

Awakenings:      
Super Awakenings:   

Pros	Cons
Three Devil Killers  2 Skill Boosts  Active removes hazards and reasonably short CD Forms 7×6 board Can use Dragon Killer  latents Is a pretty boy L  adds some damage	Cannot use Devil Killer Latents Competes with Mito  Super Awakenings are mediocre

Shazel is another powerful triple Killer card that deals 27x ATK to all Devil spawns. This is vital for dealing with what are oftentimes dangerous spawns and lowers the need to use additional active skills. However, Shazel is in close competition with Mito  and actually falls behind in Devil damage if Mito wields three Devil Killer latents. To make up for this, Shazel can use different Killers which can propel his damage higher if the spawn is dual typing.

Thankfully, Shazel gains an edge over Mito due to his double Skill Boost  awakenings which help charge up actives faster along with his base cooldown being relatively short.

Another notable aspect to Shazel is his 7×6 board generation which has amazing synergy with leader swapping and helping Rushana perform better. The 3x RCV when paired with Rushana’s 2x HP helps provide reasonable consistency until you are able to swap into double Rushana. While Rushana is no longer as top tier as she used to be, this is still a viable approach to using her.

The main drawback for Shazel is his Super Awakenings are middling overall but the L  can add some damage along with providing some utility if locked orbs exist.

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Pralinae – A

Active: Change Water orbs to Light orbs, Dark orbs to Heart orbs. All attribute cards RCV x1.5 for 4 turns (9 turn CD)

Leader Skill: Healer & Dragon type cards ATK x3. ATK x2, reduce damage taken by 35% after matching Heal orbs in a cross formation

Awakenings:      
Super Awakenings:   

Pros	Cons
5 Killer awakenings Active makes Light & Heart orbs RCV buff can be sometimes useful	Less specialized than No.6  & Shazel  in coop Cannot use Devil or God Killer Latents

Pralinae gains some of the best Super Awakenings in the entire Dragonbound & Dragon Caller REM as she is able to gain either a third God  or Devil Killer . This enables her to deal 27x ATK to that specific spawn and then an outrageous 243x ATK if it is a God and Devil type. This is quite excessive but does give Praline a unique edge when playing in solo mode. Unfortunately, Super Awakenings do not work in coop which means she may be sidelined for No.6  or Shazel , On the other hand, she has the ability to cover more spawns as well as gaining incredible damage against God & Devil spawns (personal 81x) in coop.

With this in mind, Pralinae will still be a niche sub, but her active skill has merits on various teams. Being able to produce Light and Heart orbs can help concentrate your damage and the RCV buff can help bolster your healing potential as well as overriding debuffs.

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Vigo – D (New)

Active: Reduce enemies’ defense to 0 for 1 turn. Effects carry forward on sweep. Change Heart, Poison & Mortal Poison orbs to Water orbs (13 turn CD)

Leader Skill: Dragon type cards ATK x3. All attribute cards ATK x2.5 when attacking with 4 of following orb types: Fire, Water, Wood, Light & Dark.

Awakenings:      
Super Awakenings: –

Pros	Cons
Hazard removal 100% DEF Break	2 Killers of not the same type Hard to justify using over other options Killers are different

Vigo is the final card to be released in the Dragonbound & Dragon Caller Rare Egg Machine and is quite disappointing compared to the other monsters available. This is because he only comes with 2 less popular Killers along with a middling active. This is problematic and he kind of goes against the notion that DBDC cards are highly specialized as he is not fulfilling any particular role well.

Two Killers can be useful, but the fact that both are different makes it challenging to line up along with Physical and Healers not being particularly valued.

Even if he gains a Super Awakening during a future event, he will still most likely be inferior to the other cards available.

Conclusion

The Dragonbound & Dragon Caller REM is one of the most exciting events in Puzzle and Dragons. This is because there is incredible value at all rarities which helps justify heavily rolling if missing most of the cards.

While the 7-stars are always going to be appealing, one should be rolling with the hope of acquiring each of the powerful Killer 5-stars and accept any higher rarity card as a bonus.

Taking all of this into consideration, I would strongly encourage players to roll in this event if they have not in the past.

Let me know what you think about the DBDC REM in the comments below.

Happy Puzzling!

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